Passes the Bechdel test
This Boy's Life
1993. Directed by Michael Caton-Jones, written by Tobias Wolff and Robert Getchell.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 147. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
In 1957, a son and mother flee the East and an abusive boyfriend to find a new life, and end up in Seattle, where the mother meets a polite garage mechanic. The boy continually gets into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. The mom marries the mechanic, but they soon find out that he's an abusive and unreasoning alcoholic, and they struggle to maintain hope in an impossible situation as the boy grows up with plans to escape the small town by any means possible. Based on a true story by Tobias Wolff.
- Released
- 23 Apr 1993
- Genres
- Biography, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 60 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Toby 264 lines, man
- Caroline 195 lines, woman
- Dwight 175 lines, man
- Arthur 35 lines, man
- Pearl 15 lines, woman
- Norma 12 lines, woman
- Terry Taylor 9 lines, man
- Jerry 8 lines, man
- Arch 7 lines, man
- Mr. Shippy 7 lines, man
Full cast, 34 people
- Robert De Niro as Dwight
- Ellen Barkin as Caroline
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Toby
- Jonah Blechman as Arthur Gayle
- Eliza Dushku as Pearl
- Chris Cooper as Roy
- Carla Gugino as Norma
- Zachary Ansley as Skipper
- Tracey Ellis as Kathy
- Kathy Kinney as Marian
- Robert Zameroski as Arch Cook
- Tobey Maguire as Chuck Bolger
- Tristan Tait as Jerry Huff
- Travis MacDonald as Psycho
- Richard Liss as A&P Manager
- Michael Bacall as Terry Taylor
- Adam Sneller as Terry Silver
- Gerrit Graham as Mr. Howard
- Thomas Kopache as Geiger Counter Vendor
- Lee Wilkof as Principal Shippy
- Sean Murray as Jimmy Voorhees
- Jason Horst as Oscar Brooker
- Deanna Milligan as Silver Sister #1
- Morgan Brayton as Silver Sister #2
- Robert Munns as Ticket Sellers
- Bill Dow as Vice Principal
- Shawn Macdonald as A&P Employee
- Frank C. Turner as Truck Driver
- John R. Taylor as Minister
- Stephen E. Miller as Target Ranger
- Dwight McFee as Man in Crowd (voice)
- Ken Camroux-Taylor as Second Place Shooter
- Ross Chaston as Score Caller
- Scott Woodmansee as Crash Witness
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 147
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 9 | 9 |
| 5 to 8 | 8 | 6 |
| 9 to 12 | 3 | 3 |
| 13 to 16 | 15 | 8 |
| 17 to 20 | 14 | 15 |
| 21 to 24 | 16 | 17 |
| 25 to 28 | 2 | 8 |
| 29 to 32 | 24 | 25 |
| 33 to 36 | 1 | 12 |
| 37 to 40 | 11 | 18 |
| 41 to 44 | 12 | 8 |
| 45 to 48 | 6 | 16 |
| 49 to 52 | 9 | 12 |
| 53 to 56 | 3 | 27 |
| 57 to 60 | 14 | 21 |
| 61 to 64 | 5 | 24 |
| 65 to 68 | 9 | 21 |
| 69 to 72 | 9 | 8 |
| 73 to 76 | 4 | 40 |
| 77 to 80 | 2 | 13 |
| 81 to 84 | 10 | 7 |
| 85 to 88 | 6 | 40 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 13 |
| 93 to 96 | 2 | 18 |
| 97 to 100 | 10 | 14 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 0 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 20 |
| 113 to 116 | 6 | 8 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 25 |
| 121 to 124 | 5 | 23 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 1 |
| 129 to 132 | 2 | 11 |
| 133 to 136 | 4 | 3 |
| 137 to 140 | 1 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 3 | 18 |
| 145 to 147 | 24 | 38 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
CAROLINE: I'm trying to concentrate on the good stuff. NORMA: What d'ya think? I think I look like a fool. Who cares? Six weeks to graduation, and California, here I come! CAROLINE: Seriously: you have to concentrate on the good stuff.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 31 are women's.
251 lines from women, 556 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 23 men in the cast. 5 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 813.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 46 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 29% of the words (3,619), men 71% (9,069). Women have 31% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
8
Two men
52
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Michael Caton-Jones (man)
- Written by
- Robert Getchell (man)
- From the novel by
- Tobias Wolff (man)
- Produced by
- Art Linson (man)
- Shot by
- David Watkin (man)
- Edited by
- Jim Clark (man)
- Music by
- Carter Burwell (man)
- Production design by
- Stephen J. Lineweaver (man)
- Costumes by
- Richard Hornung (man)
- Cast by
- Rachel Abroms (gender not listed), Owens Hill (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 29 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Eliza Dushku 12, Carla Gugino 21, Ellen Barkin 38, Kathy Kinney 38
Men
Leonardo DiCaprio 18, Jonah Blechman 18, Zachary Ansley 21, Chris Cooper 41, Robert De Niro 49
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $4.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 147 scenes and 813 lines of dialogue. How the test works
